Mixed Member Systems

Mixed member proportional voting (MMP) is a voting system that combines some features of a proportional voting system and some of a first past the post (FPTP) system.

In New Zealand, we vote using the MMP voting system - Mixed Member Proportional. Voters have two votes: the first for their preferred party and the second for an electorate MP.

Mixed-member proportional representation, also termed mixed-member proportional voting and commonly abbreviated to MMP, is a voting system originally used to elect representatives to the German Bundestag, which has also been adopted by New Zealand, Lesotho, and Romania.

Mixed-member proportional representation explained from Youtube.

NDP MP Craig Scott explains why the NDP would move to a system of mixed-member proportional representation for future federal elections.

In 1993 New Zealanders voted to replace their traditional first past the post (FPP) voting system with mixed member proportional representation (MMP). Eighteen years on, as Kiwis voted in a new electoral referendum, we explore how and why that dramatic reform came about.

Many perceive our first-past-the-post system (FPTP) as harmful for the cohesion of the Canadian federation. In recent federal elections, regional variations in party support have been translated into sharp cleavages in parliamentary representation. The ruling party caucus is dominated by its massive Ontario wing, with few members coming from the West. It becomes difficult to find suitable ministers from each province.

The 2015 federal election is just around the corner, and its proximity has sparked some serious discussion about our current electoral system. NDP leader Tom Mulcair claims that if elected, our current first-past-the-post system (FPTP) will be replaced by mixed-member proportional representation (MMP). This will allow citizens to vote twice: once for a local MP, and once directly for the party of their choice.

Research has shown that in the post-Second World War period in New Zealand, under the first-past-the-post electoral system, the level of disproportionality was 11%. This is a measure of the different shares of the seats won by political parties in Parliament in comparison with their shares of the votes in elections.

In all but one of the seven countries using MMP, district seats are elected using FPTP, while Hungary uses the Two-Round system previously described.

This is a series (Comparative Politics) for students and teachers of political science that deals with contemporary issues in comparative government and politics.

The surge in popular support for the Island's third and fourth parties in the recent provincial election has renewed discussion about the need for electoral reform in P.E.I.. With 41 per cent of the popular vote, the Liberals won 67 per cent of the seats in the legislature. The NDP and the Greens had a combined 22 per cent of the vote, but only came away with one seat between the two parties. However, when the prospect of Proportional Representation (PR) comes up, opponents argue that this system promotes endless minority governments. We forget that the electoral system proposed in the 2005 plebiscite on electoral reform was Mixed Member Proportional Representation (MMPR), a hybrid which maintains 17 Constituency Seats in which local MLA's would still be elected by the current First Past the Post system.